Luke 18:19-22
When I was a child, I loved building things with my erector set. A box full of possibilities. The set included different sized metal beams, gears, wheels, nuts, bolts, and a battery powered electric motor. I would spend hours attempting to build different items. From buildings with pulley systems, to cars that ran with the small motor. One day the battery died and I didn’t have a replacement. I remembered that my dad had a box of old electrical cords out in the garage. I found an old cord from a lamp with 2 bare wires. I thought this was perfect, I can wire this to the small motor and have endless power. It was a grand plan and I knew it would work perfectly. My perfect plan lasted about 2 seconds! Upon plugging in the small motor to the wall socket, the motor instantly sped up to an incredibly fast speed! A blue arc of electricity quickly formed and the motor burned up in a glorious fashion. The wall socket sparked and the living room went dark. The perfect plan ended with my mom yelling at me for trying to burn down the house, my dad scrambling for the fuse box, and I panicking that I just blew up the house.
The rich young ruler is like that little motor. The little motor ran on minuscule amounts of electricity but when faced with the standard amount of electricity it burned up. This young man called Jesus good. Hey good teacher, Jesus you are good, and so I am I. Look at what I have done and am doing. Jesus, I meet the standard! Two good dudes just hanging out. Jesus points out, no one is good except God alone. Young man you don’t meet the standard and you have fallen short. Give up that one thing you hold onto that keeps you from following me. The young ruler was unwilling to give 100% percent of his life to Jesus. Jesus pointed out that the young man’s “goodness” wasn’t even close to meeting God’s standard and instead of asking for help and forgiveness the young man wandered off without deciding.
I had a plan for my erector set and it turned out to be a disaster. Each of us has a plan for our lives. If we don’t include Jesus in them, they will turn into an eternal disaster. The plan needs to be full submission to Jesus. Letting Him rule our desires and will. Give Jesus complete control of your life, don't hold anything back. Examine your life, what are your weak spots that you don’t want Jesus to have control over? Prayerfully submit to Jesus and give Him your full attention and life.
The rich young ruler is like that little motor. The little motor ran on minuscule amounts of electricity but when faced with the standard amount of electricity it burned up. This young man called Jesus good. Hey good teacher, Jesus you are good, and so I am I. Look at what I have done and am doing. Jesus, I meet the standard! Two good dudes just hanging out. Jesus points out, no one is good except God alone. Young man you don’t meet the standard and you have fallen short. Give up that one thing you hold onto that keeps you from following me. The young ruler was unwilling to give 100% percent of his life to Jesus. Jesus pointed out that the young man’s “goodness” wasn’t even close to meeting God’s standard and instead of asking for help and forgiveness the young man wandered off without deciding.
I had a plan for my erector set and it turned out to be a disaster. Each of us has a plan for our lives. If we don’t include Jesus in them, they will turn into an eternal disaster. The plan needs to be full submission to Jesus. Letting Him rule our desires and will. Give Jesus complete control of your life, don't hold anything back. Examine your life, what are your weak spots that you don’t want Jesus to have control over? Prayerfully submit to Jesus and give Him your full attention and life.